Wireless communication mapping apparatus, systems, and methods

• US 20060068805A1
• Filed: 09/28/2004
• Published: 03/30/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Miao, Kai X., Rhemtulla, Amin F., Lam, Siu H.
• Granted Patent: US 7,324,820 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/452.200
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/18 Network planning tools

Abstract

Apparatus and systems, as well as methods and articles, may operate to generate a system coverage map from a plurality of geosystemic data points, as well as to change wireless system operational parameters responsive to various parameters associated with the plurality of geosystemic data points.

Claims

1. A method, including:

selecting a first plurality of geosystemic data points to be acquired by a wireless client;

receiving the first plurality of geosystemic data points at a wireless base station;

acquiring a second plurality of geosystemic data points at the wireless base station; and

generating a dynamic system coverage map according to at least one of the first plurality of geosystemic data points and the second plurality of geosystemic data points.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a first geosystemic data point selected from the first plurality of geosystemic data points comprises a first position of the wireless client on a grid, and at least one of an “

on”

state and an “

off”

state of the wireless client, a first time of logging the first geosystemic data point, a parameter associated with call completion, and a signal parameter associated with at least one of a first plurality of signals received at the wireless client and a second plurality of signals transmitted from the wireless client.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the parameter associated with call completion includes at least one of a first number of completed calls, a first number of system busy call attempts, and a first number of dropped calls.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the signal parameter includes at least one of a signal strength, an electromagnetic interference level, a signal-to-noise ratio, a frequency, a type of modulation, and a phase shift.

5. The method of claim 2, further including:

logging the first geosystemic data point into a memory of the wireless client; and

time-stamping the first geosystemic data point.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a second geosystemic data point selected from the second plurality of geosystemic data points comprises a second position of the wireless client on a grid, and at least one of a second time of logging the second geosystemic data point, a parameter associated with call completion, and a parameter associated with at least one of a first plurality of signals received at the wireless base station and a second plurality of signals transmitted from the wireless base station.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the parameter associated with call completion includes at least one of a second number of completed calls, a second number of system busy call attempts, and a second number of dropped calls

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the signal parameter includes at least one of a signal strength, an electromagnetic interference level, a signal-to-noise ratio, a frequency, a type of modulation, and a phase shift.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one geosystemic data point included in one of the first plurality of geosystemic data points and the second plurality of geosystemic data points is transmitted at a delayed time following a period of loss of communications with the wireless base station.

10. The method of claim 1, further including:

providing the dynamic system coverage map to a plurality of wireless clients.

11. The method of claim 1, further including:

displaying on a display in a first color first areas of the dynamic system coverage map corresponding to a received signal-to-noise ratio greater than about a maximum amount;

displaying on the display in a second color second areas of the dynamic system coverage map corresponding to a received signal-to-noise ratio between about a minimum amount and about the maximum amount;

displaying on the display in a third color third areas of the dynamic system coverage map corresponding to a received signal-to-noise ratio of less than about the minimum amount; and

displaying on the display in a contrasting pattern fourth areas of the dynamic system coverage map corresponding to any one of system congestion, poor throughput, and unsuccessful call attempts.

12. The method of claim 1, further including:

displaying a geographical position of the wireless client relative to the dynamic system coverage map as a graphical indication on a display.

13. The method of claim 1, further including:

comparing a set of geosystemic data points comprising the first plurality and the second plurality with a set of preferred geosystemic data points; and

adjusting at least one system parameter responsive to the comparison.

14. The method of claim 1, further including:

comparing the dynamic system coverage map to a preferred system coverage map comprising a set of theoretical geosystemic data points; and

adjusting a system coverage transmit envelope according to a correlation operation to be performed on a set of geosystemic data points comprising the first plurality of geosystemic data points and the second plurality of geosystemic data points and on the set of theoretical geosystemic data points corresponding to the preferred system coverage map.

15. The method of claim 14, further including:

assigning a weighted value to at least one parameter associated with at least one member of the set of theoretical geosystemic data points to provide a class-of-service according to a selected signal-to-noise ratio.

16. The method of claim 14, further including:

tuning a phased-array antenna to adjust the system coverage transmit envelope.

17. An article including a machine-accessible medium having associated information, wherein the information, when accessed, results in a machine performing:

selecting a first plurality of geosystemic data points to be acquired by a wireless client;

receiving the first plurality of geosystemic data points at a wireless base station;

acquiring a second plurality of geosystemic data points at the wireless base station; and

generating a dynamic system coverage map from the plurality of geosystemic data points.

18. The article of claim 17, wherein the information, when accessed, results in a machine performing:

displaying the dynamic system coverage map on a display at the wireless client.

19. The article of claim 17, wherein the information, when accessed, results in a machine performing:

generating a dynamic system congestion map comprising at least one of the first plurality of geosystemic data points and the second plurality of geosystemic data points.

20. The article of claim 17, wherein the information, when accessed, results in a machine performing:

identifying a malfunctioning wireless base station.

21. The article of claim 17, wherein the information, when accessed, results in a machine performing:

selecting an area of operation of the wireless client.

22. An apparatus, including:

at least one wireless base station to collect and process a plurality of geosystemic data points;

a database coupled to the at least one wireless base station to store the plurality of geosystemic data points; and

a first database structure coupled to the at least one wireless base station to associate a sector of a grid with at least one of the plurality of geosystemic data points.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, further including:

a second database structure coupled to the at least one wireless base station to associate the sector of the grid with a corresponding sector of a geophysical map.

24. The apparatus of claim 22, further including:

a third database structure coupled to the at least one wireless base station to associate the sector of the grid with one of an area of system congestion, an area of poor throughput, and an area of unsuccessful call attempts; and

a fourth database structure coupled to the at least one wireless base station to associate the sector of the grid with an electromagnetic field strength.

25. A wireless client, including:

a mobile device transceiver;

a geosystemic data point generation module coupled to the mobile device transceiver; and

a human-responsive input-output device coupled to the mobile device transceiver to indicate an area of a dynamic system coverage map corresponding to one of a received signal-to-noise ratio greater than a maximum amount, between a minimum amount and the maximum amount, and less than the minimum amount.

26. The wireless client of claim 25, wherein the human-responsive input-output device comprises at least one of a display, a tactile device, and a speech-recognition device.

27. The wireless client of claim 25, further including:

a circuit coupled to the human-responsive input-output device to enable panning and zooming.

28. A system, including:

a display to display at least one area of a dynamic system coverage map corresponding to one of a received signal-to-noise ratio greater than about a maximum amount, between about a minimum amount and about the maximum amount, and less than about the minimum amount;

a processor coupled to the display;

at least one wireless base station coupled to the processor to acquire a second plurality of geosystemic data points; and

a plurality of wireless clients to communicatively couple to the at least one wireless base station to transmit a first plurality of geosystemic data points.

29. The system of claim 28, further including:

a map generation module coupled to the processor to generate a dynamic system coverage map.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the dynamic system coverage map comprises:

a geographical map to overlay a grid of two-dimensional sectors; and

a database to associate at least one sector selected from the grid of two-dimensional sectors with at least one geosystemic data point selected from at least one of the first plurality of geosystemic data points and the second plurality of geosystemic data points.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the at least one geosystemic data point comprises a position of the wireless client on the grid, and at least one of:

a time of logging the geosystemic data point;

an “

on”

state and an “

off”

state of the wireless client;

a first parameter associated with call completion, including a number of completed calls, a number of system busy call attempts, and a number of dropped calls; and

a second parameter associated with at least one of a second plurality of radio-frequency (RF) signals originating at the wireless base station and a first plurality of RF signals originating at the wireless client, including a signal strength, an electromagnetic interference level, a signal-to-noise ratio, a frequency, a type of modulation, and a phase shift.

32. The system of claim 31, further including:

a system adjustment module to adjust a system parameter responsive to one of the first parameter and the second parameter.

33. The system of claim 31, further including:

an antenna coupled to the base station to adjust a transmit envelope responsive to one of the first parameter and the second parameter.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the antenna comprises a phased-array antenna.